TURKEY’S accession to full European Union membership appears more unlikely than ever after Recep Tayyip Erdogan tightened his grip on power by securing another five-year term with a resounding victory at the polls.

Mr Erdogan’s win hands him greater powers as his country moves from a parliamentary system to an executive presidency which critics fear will further erode democracy and strengthen the one-man rule which has overseen a brutal crackdown since a failed military coup two years ago.

The 64-year-old earlier this year insisted "full membership" of the EU remained a "strategic goal" for Turkey which seeks deeper trade ties with the bloc and visa-free travel across Europe.

But relations between Brussels and Ankara have been strained since attempts to overthrow the government in 2016 resulted in a stinging backlash against dissidents, Kurds, journalists, academics and human rights activists with more than 160,000 people arrested an jailed.

The majority of MEPs voted to freeze Turkey’s accession talks in November 2016 in response to the purge and the rise of populism across the bloc have made membership even less likely.

Related articles

It's really not the democratic Turkey which we hoped for — and worked for

Rebecca Harms

Anti-EU rhetoric coming out of Ankara has done little to improve relations. Germany was particularly affronted when Mr Erdogan called Europe Nazis.

And Turkey expert Caner Aver had warned an Erdogan victory would widen the rift between Ankara and Brussels.

He said: ”Unfortunately what Erdogan did by calling Europe 'Nazis' and trying to use the Turkish diaspora as a tool or arm against Europe and European governments and creating discomfort in those countries was that all these people got very disappointed with Turkey.”

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has clashed with EU leaders over the past two years (Image: GETTY)

German Green MEP Rebecca Harms said: "There is only little space left for some tiny little media and news outlets for critical reporting.

"You have thousands of people imprisoned for political reasons.

“It's a huge purge against opposition people. So it's really not the democratic Turkey which we hoped for — and worked for."

The EU’s annual report on Turkey’s progress toward full membership was published, perhaps not coincidentally, on the day Mr Erdogan called the snap election.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has secured a fourth term in office (Image: AFP/GETTY)

It was the harshest since talks began in 2005 and was heavily critical of the weakening of Turkey's democracy, ongoing mass arrests and the switch from a parliamentary system to an executive presidency.

It noted “serious backsliding” in judicial reform and freedom of expression and cited human rights abuses in the majority-Kurdish southeast.

The report demanded an urgent end the to the state of emergency imposed in the wake of the coup and regularly extended by government officials.

The report said “no progress was achieved” in the fight against corruption and concluded it was “unthinkable” in the EU's eyes to open new accession chapters.